Ridgeline Minerals Reports Final Results for the Crash Zone Drill Program at the Carlin-East Gold Project, Nevada
Vancouver, Canada, December 2, 2021 – Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (“Ridgeline” or the “Company”) (TSX-V: RDG | OTCQB: RDGMF | FRA: 0GC0) is pleased to announce final results for the Crash Zone drill program at the Company’s 100% owned Carlin-East Gold Project (“Carlin-East”). The project is centrally located in the north Carlin Trend and sits adjacent to the world-class Goldstrike gold deposit and directly on-trend of Nevada Gold Mines emerging high-grade gold discovery at North Leeville (Figure 1). The Company’s 2021 drill program encountered challenging drilling conditions throughout the program and as a result, completed one out of the three planned drill holes to target depth with details summarized below.
Drill Program Summary
- CE21-003 drilled to a depth of 1,254 metres (“m”) and was the only core-hole of the planned three-hole (3,000m) program to reach a minimum target depth of 1,000m or greater. The hole did not intersect significant gold values or the intended Lower Plate carbonate rock package that hosts gold mineralization at multiple open-pit and underground mines on the north Carlin Trend (Figure 2).
- CE21-003 is interpreted to have drilled the deeper, down-dropped (hanging-wall) side of a major NW fault Zone resulting in the hole drilling an over-thickened, strongly sheared section of Upper Plate Vinini formation (Figure 2).
- Drilling intersected greenstone and limestone marker beds of the Lower Vinini formation as well as narrow zones (1-10m) of strongly sheared and hydrothermally altered intervals of Vinini mudstone.
- Ridgeline geologists interpret these stratigraphic marker beds as an indication that CE21-003 was nearing the Roberts Mountain Thrust (“RMT”) contact (The RMT marks the transition between Upper and Lower Plate rocks) prior to termination of the drill hole (Figure 3).
- Future drilling will target shallower (900 to 1,100m) Lower Plate host rocks in the adjacent fault block directly to the south of CE21-003, where marker beds of the middle Vinini formation have been intersected at substantially shallower depths in both CE21-004 and CE21-005, which are cased and ready for re-entry at a future date (Figure 2).
- Due to the depth of drilling required to hit target rocks (1,000+ metres) the company was unable to utilize its strategic reverse circulation (“RC”) drilling contract beyond depths of 400-500m. A third-party diamond core company was contracted to complete the “core-tails” to target depths.
- Challenging drilling conditions in both CE21-003 and CE21-005 led to inadequate daily drill production, culminating in a lost hole in CE21-005 which further contributed to increases in drilling costs that made continuing the program untenable for the Company.
- As a result, the company terminated the remainder of the program and left both CE21-004 and CE21-005 cased and ready for re-entry at a time when the Company can negotiate a more equitable drilling contract.
Chad Peters, Ridgeline’s President, CEO & Director commented, “This was a challenging drill program for our team and unfortunately we did not achieve our primary objective of intersecting Lower Plate host rocks at the Crash Zone. Only one-of-three planned holes reached target depths indicating the Crash Zone target has not been adequately tested and we believe there is still potential for a discovery to be made at Carlin-East. Deep drilling is always a challenge in Nevada and demand for drilling services is the highest I’ve seen in my ten years working in the state. In the case of Carlin-East, it’s not in the Company or our shareholders best interest to continue drilling 1,000+ meter holes until we can secure a more equitable core drilling contract once the demand for drill rigs has cooled. Our land position in the North Carlin Trend remains the largest of any company aside from Nevada Gold Mines and we will continue to strategically advance both Carlin-East and our neighbouring Bell Creek project forward in 2022.”
Figure 1: Regional map of the north Carlin Trend showing the Carlin-East project directly on trend of the Leeville-Turf and North Leeville gold deposits
Carlin-East Project
Carlin-East is a Carlin-Type gold exploration project located within the prolific Carlin Trend. The project area straddles Eureka and Elko counties in Nevada and is comprised of 422 contiguous federal lode claims and fee lands totaling 35 km² of mineral rights. Historical and currently producing mines nearby include the Goldstrike, Leeville-Turf, Meikle-Rodeo, and Genesis-Bluestar operations. (View the Carlin-East VRIFY Deck Here)
Figure 2: Schematic X-Section A-A’ showing the regional trend to mineralization along the Leeville Structural Corridor, host to the Carlin and Leeville-Turf mines as well as the emerging North Leeville discovery. Conceptual targets at Carlin-East are projected to depths ranging from 1,000 to 1,400 meters
Figure 3: Schematic X-Section B-B’ showing CE21-003 targeting favourable Lower Plate host rocks of the Rodeo Creek, Popovich and Bootstrap formations along the footwall of the Four Corners fault zone. Drilling terminated at 1,254m in the Lower Vinini formation above its intended Lower Plate target
Technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael T. Harp, P.Geo. the Company’s Vice President, Exploration, a qualified person within the meaning thereof under National Instrument 43-101 and responsible for technical matters of this release.
About Ridgeline Minerals Corp.
Ridgeline is a discovery focused gold-silver explorer with a proven management team and a 154 km² exploration portfolio across four projects in the highly prospective Carlin and Battle Mountain – Eureka Trends in Nevada, USA. More information about Ridgeline can be found at www.RidgelineMinerals.com.
On behalf of the Board
“Chad Peters”
President & CEO
Further Information:
Chad Peters, P.Geo.
President & CEO
Ridgeline Minerals Corp.
1-866-RDG-NVAU (734-6828) – toll free
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Cautionary Note regarding Forward Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are “forward-looking information” or “forward-looking statements” (collectively, “Forward-Looking Information”) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated benefits of the Earn-In Agreement and the transaction contemplated thereby. The words “potential”, “anticipate”, “meaningful”, “discovery”, “forecast”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “may”, “will”, “project”, “plan”, “historical”, “historic” and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Information. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, Ridgeline has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that the current objectives concerning its mineral projects (including Swift) can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; and that all requisite information will be available in a timely manner. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Ridgeline to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to dependence on key personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays; risks related to historical data that has not been verified by the Company; as well as those factors discussed in Ridgeline’s public disclosure record. Although Ridgeline has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Ridgeline and may cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Ridgeline does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.